Fletch

George beat me to it. I seriously think you should have your meds checked as there's in imbalance there somewhere. John, my Friend, this looks like it's going to be another outrageous build. You never know what's going to surface next from your bench, but you always know it will be unique.

Abe, I have one floating around here somewhere, it's about 75% completed, It's a lot of work but can be a reasonable finished product, but being it's white metal it has it's inherent flaws. The biggest thing I would consider is the scale you're building. The RnD frame is a 1/24th scale unit, so if you're building using a 1/24th scale body and don't mind investing time in a frame that can flex and bend without notice, you're good to go. The best things you can do is use it as a pattern and duplicate it out of Evergreen. The best alternative is to contact Norm Verber at Replicas and Miniatures Company of Maryland. Norm has a cleaned up replica of the Revell Deuce Chassis that is well worth the investment.

Tim, I don't think IMPRESSIVE even comes close. I've seen several Offy's done over the years and without a doubt larger is better. Very cool.

Haven't done anything with it in the last few days. However, starting tomorrow a group of us from SABA will be doing a 5 day demo at one of the county fairs. I and a couple of other members will be closing the show down at 10pm. I figure between answering questions and building a reasonable amount of progress should get made on a couple of different builds. Updates coming soon.

The start of another fantastic build from Lyle's bench. I don't know how many variations of the '30 Coupe we'll see over the next year but, I always know when I see your name on a new project it's going to be cool. Looking forward to seeing where you've this one headed.

Great Start Alyn, good collection of parts and pieces. You can't go wrong building a '29 no matter the body style.

Time for an update on the '49 Merc. The first round of bodywork has been completed. There is still need to go back and refine the major reworked areas. It's being a typical custom and will require several bouts will the filler to get to the final stage of laying down paint. I threw the fender skirts from a Revell '57 Ranchero on just to see how they'd look. My first impression is I like the design, I just don't think they're tall enough. What do you think? Hosted on Fotki Still a lot of massaging to get it to the point of paint, but it's getting there.

As promised here is what the coupe looks like mocked up with the tires from the Revell '29 pickup and the chrome reverse from the Revell '49 Merc. Hosted on Fotki I like the look, but I'm don't know about the chrome reverse with the Light Gun Metal. What do you think?

I have never seriously considered building police cruisers but after seeing what Lindberg has going here, plus the fact the Portland has changed over to the Chargers, I can very well see 1 or 2 of these hitting the bench in the not to distant future.

That is a great idea James, it would certainly be something different for a Fletch build. Things like the door lines need to be rescribed otherwise those little windows would be hard to crawl through. I am going to mock up a set of chrome reverse from the Revell Merc to see what they would look like. I'll post some photos and see what everyone thinks.

Shot some color on the Coupe this morning, not really sure why other then to see what the Light Gun Metal looked like. Shot it directly over the plastic no primer, don't ask me why, sleep deprivation makes you do stupid stuff. One thing it did do was highlight all the flaws in the bodywork that still need to be addressed. Hosted on Fotki At least I now know what the yellow wheels look like with the Light Gun Metal. The color is truer to the cap then Tamiya's color chart. Your input is always welcome.

That would be very cool. I have one on a Dump Truck build from years ago. But, now find myself in need of another. Thank you for your help. Dave

Guys, I'm looking for a Mill City Replica '41 Ford COE Cab. The resin body was available a few years ago. Thank you for any help.

The detail of the wood is fantastic. I don't think that many of us who build rods don't have a build of this great kit in some stage of construction. The wheels look great, I'm not sure of the source, can you let us in on where you came up with them? A great build all around.

Keeps getting better with each update Mr Perez. I need to get back to mine, just been to busy with life to get much modeling accomplished. One other thing you might consider for the grille is an India Ink pen. They are sold by many craft stores such as Micheal's, the come in various sizes, the most useful for modeling purposes are the .5 and .05 tips. Run your lines down the sides of the ribs on the grille, give it an hour or so to dry enough to handle and you're good to go.

Thanks Dave for the info about the Merc's Chrome Reverse wheels. I'll take a look at them later today. The Billetproof concept is a great thing but kind a walks a fine line at times. As you can have machined aluminum but not if they come from a CNC machine. You can run IFS or IRS just not on a high-boy. Some of the rods we saw at the event in SW Washington I'm not sure I'd feel safe in sitting still in the parking lot. I think as long as we build Traditional the concept works beautifully.

That is one sweet ride Shane. I had looked at the Chrome Reverse in the '49 Merc kit but haven't tried them to see how well they might work in the Revell "Rat Rod" tires. There is really nothing set in stone regarding the color of anything on the build. I like the yellow, but it can be a difficult color to contrast with. I am more concerned with maintaining the look rather then letting the color set the agenda. I'm figuring mid week to get the first color on the body. Dave, I have kicked around the idea of painting it Cream color, the yellow wheels would make a great color combination. Chrome Reverse with the gold engine and a Dark Metallic green would work as well. Raul, the idea of BFR (bright f'in Red) has crossed my mind more then once. But, the yellow rims would have to go. They could work with a Maroon or some color of muted red, but I think it would be garish in bright red with the yellow rims. I'm starting to see a pattern here, lots of colors would work on the coupe just not with the yellow rims. Maybe, the yellow rims are the problem, we'll have to see. Thank for your input guys, it's always appreciated.

It's become obvious that the body in the same yellow as the rims is not going to work. Going back through the Tamiya color chart these are the colors that I've narrowed it down to. TS-1 Red Brown TS-11 Maroon TS-33 Dull Red TS-42 Light Gun Metal TS-62 NATO Brown TS-69 Linoleum Deck Brown Hosted on Fotki The TS-42 Light Gun Metal is no where as Gray as the swatch would indicate, if it is anything like the cap it is a lot more metallic, like a very dark deep Chrome. What do you think? The coupe should be ready for paint by mid week, weather permitting. Let me know your thought.

The coupe is starting to actually look like the artwork from the t-shirt. I thought I'd give you a quick update. The Caddy mill from the Revell '49 Merc is a perfect fit for the build. It has the size, bulk and attitude need to truly represent Billetproof. The carbs were upgraded to those from the '50 Ford pickup, the stacks will be replaced with curved units from RMoM. The lower portion of the stock '29 firewall will have to be modified to fit around the Caddy Bell housing. Cut down a Revel grille to see how it would look, other then it could stand to be a bit shorter it fits the concept. With the firewall out of body it doesn't fit as tightly on the chassis so the body rocks on the stopper glued to the inside of the body. As a consequence the rear end is sitting lower in this photo then it will be in the final assembly. Hosted on Fotki The black line over the rear quarter windows is to mark the location of the rear of the roof insert. For this build I choose the more "stock" configuration and will be using the entire roof insert instead of the insert that is only in the center of the roof as in the '30 kit. The Camel Yellow of the rims is a great color, but I'm not sure about the body being that color as well. I'm starting to think that it might be to much yellow. Your input and comments are always welcome. That's all for now.

As someone who judges contests I'd be ecstatic if half the entries on the table had the level of detail that you've put into your '28 Sedan. Most static models wouldn't match up to this functional beauty. Great work.

Got some work done on the Coupe last evening after playing with a couple of other projects. Got the ride height set where I think it looks right, feel free to weight in on it if you like. The frame was Zed the depth of the frame rails to get the rearend to sit down where it should be. The front is a combination of the Revell '32 springs and the Revell '29-'31 dropped beam axle in order to get the pose-able steering. Still a couple of tweaks there to make it look correct. Hosted on Fotki I'm most likely going to use the Caddy engine from Revell's '49 Merc. It needs a carb upgrade, the addition of some RMoM stacks and a set of headers and would fit the Billetproof image perfectly. And Yes, I did find the missing piece, or should I say one of the cats found the missing piece and was carrying it around in their mouth. Good thing he didn't swallow it, it might have hurt coming out the other end.

Art, I agree with you completely. Catalyzed fillers have little to no shrinkage at all and are normally pretty stable once cured. Dave and I have used Evercoat Rage for years, however the last time I needed to restock the auto parts store was out of Rage so I bought a tube of USC Icing and with the catalyst it was $42. Like everything the price keeps going up. The only filler that I have ever had a problem with actually warping plastic due to heat was a 2-part Plumbers Putty I picked up at Lowe's. With in 2-3 minutes of mixing the parts together it was so hot you couldn't even hold it in your bare hands. Of course it was hard as a rock in less then 10 minutes. Just not model building friendly. Not all 2-part A/B epoxy putties are created equal. With 2-part epoxy putties expect some shrinkage further down the road. Builds that seemed fine when completed, are now 10+ years later are starting to shrinkage in the seams where the putty was used as filler. As silly as it seems the mesh cloth that they give you in the Bondo Kit will provide enough support to build up custom body panels.

The initial plan for the build Wayne was to build it as a straight up Hot Rod using all the modern parts and pieces. As noted I quickly lost interest in the project as it was going to be just another build, nothing special. The concept of Billetproof is more along my lines of thinking, not that I don't like the bling of show rods but, traditional is just the way to go. The wheels are drying out in the garage, They along with the rest of the car will be Tamiya TS-34 Camel Yellow With a white roof insert so there's not such a stark contrast between the body color and the insert. Hosted on Fotki The project of moving forward, still haven't really taken the time to search for an engine, I'm sure there is something out in the garage that will sacrifice it's power plant for this build. Next update should have some paint even if it's just primer.

There seems to be a lot of advice on how to avoid using a circular saw blade, but no information on actually using one or acquiring one as was the initial question. Yes, if you're not careful a circular saw blade can be your worst enemy, just as a cut-off disk can be. They don't call them Cut-off disk just because someone couldn't think of a better name forl them. I can provide you a list of names of people who have gotten just as nasty a cut from a cut-off disk as they have from a standard Zona Saw, me included. Anytime you chuck a cut-off disk or a circular saw blade up in a Dremel there is an inheritant risk. So, reasonable eye protection should be used as well as being totally aware of what you're doing. When you have a cutting blade of any type spinning at 5,000 RPM things can go wrong quickly. There are several options available when it comes to circular saw blades depending upon how much money you want to spend and what kind of life you expect from the blade as well as how much material do you want removed each pass of the blade (the saw kerf). One other thing to take into consideration is the number of teeth on the blade, the more teeth the better for cutting plastic. While fewer teeth work great for wood they will shred plastic. Personally, I use a Photo-etched blade available from Voyager Model from Japan but available from several distributors in the US. They come in sizes ranging from 20mm - 36mm in both Fine and Course blades. They fit a standard 1/8" mandrel with no major problems. They run about $7 for a package of 2 blades. Granted the P/E blades do not last as long as the higher priced blades and you will need to change them more often, it comes out about even in the end. BTW, the P/E blades are .012" thick less then half the thickness of a standard Dremel cut-off disk. Hosted on Fotki http://www.voyagermodel.com/products.asp?producttype=tool Circular Saw Blades are available from several different sources. Others I've used in the past are from Gyro Tools. You can buy a combo pack which includes the blade and a new mandrel or just a single blade, they also have them in bulk packs of 10 blades. The combo packs run $17.95 - $29.95. While a single blade start at $14.50 and go up to $26.50. http://www.gyrostools.com/Miniature-Circul.../c15/index.html The last source I know of is Micro-Mark, they have a good selection of Circular Saw Blades in different sizes and teeth configurations. With Micro-Mark make sure that you check the mandrel size when ordering as ALL their saw blades are on one page and you could easily end up ordering a 3" blade for a small table saw not a Dremel Motor Tool. http://www.micromark.com/saw-blades-and-cut-off-wheels.html I use an older (because it hasn't died yet) Dremel Model 750 Cordless Mini-Mite. It has 2 speeds 5,000 and 10,000 RPM, if you don't move the blade as you're cutting or mistakenly turn it on to 10,000 RPM it will melt plastic in a heart beat, but the same can be said for a cut-off disk. All things take into consideration it's a matter of your comfort level with the tools you're using, some of the nastiest cuts I've ever gotten have been using a Zona saw. When using a Circular Saw Blade in my Dremel I know exactly where my fingers are in relation to the blade at all times. Saw blades and flesh do not play well together no matter the size of the blade. I hope this helps to answer your question.

Chop #3 for this build, guess I never listened to the old adage of measure 3 times and cut once. I have no idea how much has been removed for the top at this point, but the total amount is the entire vertical rear of the quarter windows. All that remains of them is the upper and lower curved sections. One minor mishap occurred during the last chop, the blade grabbed and away went the bottom of the passenger side window. I spent the better part of an hour searching for that piece. It must be in the same place all the lost socks and keys reside. You wouldn't think that a piece of green plastic could disappear but it did. The next part of the project will be to replicate the lower window sill. Hosted on Fotki The body now sits as it should on the chassis, but in order to get the ride height level the rear of the frame will need to be Z'ed. The tires and wheels will be the ever popular Revell wide white walls from the '29 Rat Rod Pickup. Still need to find a SBC and tri-power manifold.